More Canadians than Americans say immigrants should assimilate: Poll

Canadians are significantly more likely than Americans to believe immigrants should shed their customs and traditions and fully assimilate, with a new poll revealing a one-fifth greater desire.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Canadians are significantly more likely than Americans to believe immigrants should shed their customs and traditions and fully assimilate, with a new poll revealing a one-fifth greater desire for assimilation north of the border.

A recent poll conducted by Leger on behalf of the Association of Canadian Studies between August 29 and 31 found that 52 per cent of Canadians think immigrants should adopt the customs of the majority, compared to just 23 per cent of Americans.

Jack Jedwab, president of the Association of Canadian Studies and author of the research, noted the “ironic” contradiction between the data and what Canadians have been told for years — that Canada is fundamentally a cultural mosaic and America a “melting pot.”

Excluding those who responded “I don’t know” or “I prefer not to say” to the assimilation question, 71 per cent of Americans opposed the idea that immigrants to the U.S. should give up their customs and adopt the majority’s traditions.

Quebecers were most likely to say immigrants ought to give up their customs and traditions to assimilate, with 60 per cent in agreement.

Approximately 60 per cent of Canadians disagreed with the statement that Canada needs more immigrants.

Ontarians and Albertans were most likely to say Canada doesn’t need new immigrants, with 63 per cent of Ontarians and 65 per cent of Albertans agreeing.

According to Immigration.ca, Ontario welcomed nearly 42.3 per cent of Canada’s record-breaking 437,120 new permanent residents in 2022. A recent report from Statistics Canada similarly showed that 47 per cent of Canada’s non-permanent residents living in Canada at the beginning of July this year resided in Ontario. Z

Immigrants were more likely than Canadian citizens to agree that Canada needs more immigrants. Over half of immigrants (52 per cent) said Canada needs more, while 37 per cent of citizens agreed. Sixty-three per cent of non-immigrants said Canada doesn’t need more, with 34 per cent strongly disagreeing with the statement.

More than four-fifths of Canadians (85 per cent) said it’s important to pass on “our customs and traditions to future generations,” with 91 per cent of Atlantic Canadians agreeing.

Respondents were also asked whether they believed that acts of terrorism were increasing in Canada. Those who strongly disagreed that Canada needs new immigrants were far more likely to say the prevalence of acts of terror was increasing in Canada (63 per cent).

Similarly, 65 per cent of those who strongly agreed that immigrants should assimilate said acts of terrorism were increasing in Canada. Half of those who somewhat agreed with assimilation said the same.

While no margin of error can be associated with a non-probability sample of 1,627 respondents, a comparable probability sample would have a margin of error of 2.52 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

A February poll by Ekos Politics found that 60 per cent of Canadians felt Canada had become more dangerous than it was four years ago, with religiously motivated terrorism being a top concern.

During a February news conference with the Global Imams Council, a group of Muslim imams and scholars formed to fight extremist Islamist rhetoric, former Independent MP Kevin Vuong noted that in seven months, Canada had been the “target of or exporter of at least seven incidents of terror.”